Tigers move up in baseball polls

DURHAM, N.C—Florida kept its hold on the No. 1 spot in Baseball America's Top 25 rankings thanks to a midweek win over No. 19 Central Florida and a weekend series sweep of William & Mary. The top six in the rankings all stayed put, with the Gators being followed by Stanford, South Carolina, Arkansas, Rice and Texas A&M.

Oregon made the biggest splash in the rankings, coming in at No. 18 thanks to a surprising sweep of Vanderbilt on the road. The Commodores, ranked No. 10 in the preseason, fell out of the rankings entirely after a 1-6 start, having been swept in consecutive weekends by Stanford and Oregon.

Other big movers included Florida State and UCLA, which each moved up five places to No. 13 and No. 17, respectively. The Seminoles won their series with Florida International, while the Bruins took two of three from No. 25 Baylor.

On the other end of the spectrum, two traditional powers took hard falls. Louisiana State was upset by Appalachian State at home, dropping out of the top 10 to No. 14. Meanwhile, Texas was overmatched by No. 2 Stanford, getting swept to drop its record to 2-5 and fall nine spots to No. 21 in the rankings.

Along with Oregon, Cal State Fullerton also returned to the rankings after a one-week absence. The Titans took two of three from No. 22 Texas Christian over the weekend to get back in the rankings at No. 20.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records do not include ties.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of Florida (7-1) has been ranked No. 1 in the
latest NCAA Division I baseball poll by "Collegiate Baseball" newspaper.

The Gators, who have been ranked No. 1 for three consecutive polls, have won
five in a row. Over the past week, Florida beat Bethune-Cookman, Central
Florida and picked up three wins over William & Mary.

No. 2 South Carolina is perfect with a 6-0 record. The Gamecock pitching
staff struck out 32 batters in 27 innings of work during a 3-game sweep of
Elon over the past weekend and allowed just three runs.

No. 3 Stanford (7-0) has six wins over top 25 opponents this season. The
Cardinal swept Vanderbilt and then swept a series against Texas. Stanford
outscored the Longhorns in the 3-game set, 28-4.

No. 4 Rice (8-0) swept a 3-game series against Dallas Baptist. It is the
best start for the Owls since 2001 when Rice began the season 8-0.

vPoll Notes: Other teams have been red-hot to start the season. Four teams
have a perfect 7-0 record to start 2012 in Miami, Fla., Georgia, Oregon and
Southern California. The surprise team of the year so far is Maryland which
is off to a 5-1 record, the best start in 25 years. The Terps have now
beaten UCLA two of three and recently went undefeated in the Keith LeClair
Classic. Maryland's pitching staff has a 1.24 ERA, a mark that leads the
Atlantic Coast Conference.

Six teams fell out of the poll this week in Texas (lost five in a row),
Texas Christian (1-3 last week), St. John's (1-2 last week, 2-4 overall),
U.C. Irvine (1-3 last week), Southern Mississippi (2-2 last week) and
Georgia Southern (2-2 last week). New to the poll this week is Southern
California (7-0), Cal Poly (7-1), Mississippi (5-1), Texas Tech. (7-1),
Maryland (5-1) and UCLA (4-3).

The "Collegiate Baseball" newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball
poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.